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People want to overlook it and say Powell can guard them, but the reality is it is a huge issue. We don't have a single player on the team who can play top of the line defense at the 3 position. Miles is an average at best defender, Powell is an above average defender but undersized significantly for the 3 (before you go "wingspan" Powell is roughly the same size as John Wall, would you want him guarding small forwards?). DeRozan's a below average defender and won't guard the best player on the other team anyway.
It's going to be a problem in the east. Yeah you can't stop LeBron, but you can at least make it somewhat difficult for him with a good defender and we can't even do that. There's Hayward in Boston to deal with as well and also Giannis on the Bucks. Other than the Wizards, those are the 3 teams in the east that are going to cause us the biggest problems, but there's even some other guys like Batum that might be problematic as well (I think Charlotte is going to be quite good this year, that Dwight pickup was an underrated one).
That's not even to mention the west where there are several of these guys that we're simply going to get bullied by in their one on one matchups, and it's not like we have an elite team defense with DeMar starting on the other wing and JV's below average defense inside. Durant, Kawhi, Butler, George, etc... who are we supposed to put on these guys?
Granted this likely shouldn't prevent us from being a high 40s to mid-50s win team like we've been the last few years, but it will be a problem in the playoffs where most of the top contenders have a player who we simply don't have an answer for. And while Washington doesn't really have an elite scoring three, they do have the John Wall problem which is a whole different issue to deal with since Lowry isn't particularly great defensively anymore either.
It's going to be a problem in the east. Yeah you can't stop LeBron, but you can at least make it somewhat difficult for him with a good defender and we can't even do that. There's Hayward in Boston to deal with as well and also Giannis on the Bucks. Other than the Wizards, those are the 3 teams in the east that are going to cause us the biggest problems, but there's even some other guys like Batum that might be problematic as well (I think Charlotte is going to be quite good this year, that Dwight pickup was an underrated one).
That's not even to mention the west where there are several of these guys that we're simply going to get bullied by in their one on one matchups, and it's not like we have an elite team defense with DeMar starting on the other wing and JV's below average defense inside. Durant, Kawhi, Butler, George, etc... who are we supposed to put on these guys?
Granted this likely shouldn't prevent us from being a high 40s to mid-50s win team like we've been the last few years, but it will be a problem in the playoffs where most of the top contenders have a player who we simply don't have an answer for. And while Washington doesn't really have an elite scoring three, they do have the John Wall problem which is a whole different issue to deal with since Lowry isn't particularly great defensively anymore either.
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